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tv   Whitney Houston Her Life Her Music  CNN  February 9, 2013 8:30pm-9:00pm PST

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such as the miscarriage she suffered prior to blue ivy. but even before the documentary airs, she's become a little freer with personal information, thanks to a large and active tumblr site. >> if they're posting it, you're supposed to know it. if they're not posting it, you ain't supposed to know it. >> what the online and documentary projects have in common is that beyonce controls the content. after the doc, there's a world tour. mrs. carter? that's beyonce confirming four years later that she's married to jay-z whose given name is shawn carter. and details on the next album, writer producer neo promises whatever music she produces in the future will push the edges creatively. >> she's not afraid to take a risk, not afraid to take a shot. she's not afraid to do this. if you hit, you hit. if you don't, you don't.
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>> but aside from admitting to some recording sessions with beyon beyonce, he won't say any more. >> i ain't going to be the one to let the cat out of the bag. not going to get me in trouble, no, sir. >> people don't want to wait for the greatness. everyone wants it quick, quick, quick. if you take the time to wait for it, it makes it that much better when you actually get it. >> wait for it, world. the tour is coming. her website is promoting it. the rest, she'll tell you when she's good and ready. >> thank you so much. thank you for coming. god bless y'all! >> beyonce is nominated for best traditional r&b performance at this year's grammy awards. last year's awards were shadowed by tragedy. pop icon whitney houston was found dead the day before the show. next, whitney: her life, her music."
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♪ i found the greatest >> an unforgettable voice. ♪ the greatest love of all >> silenced after a troubled life. one year after her tragic death, a look at whitney houston -- her life, her music. it's been one year since whitney houston's life ended tragically here in the beverly hilton hotel. a life cut short in the same dramatic fashion in which she lived. now we take a look back at her life, her final days and her
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death. ♪ but above all this i wish you love ♪ >> that legendary ballad, that blinding beauty, that breathtaking voice. ♪ and i will always love you >> whitney houston, the shy jersey girl who belted her way to superstardom. six grammys, and a record seven consecutive number one singles. for a time, she was pop's greatest love of all. ♪ is the greatest love of all >> to hear her voice was a miracle because for anybody to be able to do with a voice what she did with hers speaks to a divine order.
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>> whitney houston, the icon, unimaginably talented. but also fatally flawed. >> there were many different sides to whitney. there was the performer, the consummate professional. there was the addict and you never knew which whitney you were going to get. >> if houston was blessed by the heavens, she was most certainly cursed with her own demons. a contradiction right up to her final days. >> this was not a woman who was depressed, upset, high, drunk. >> it was immediate. you could smell the stench of cigarettes and of liquor, and i am like, oh, my god, she is a mess right now. >> whitney houston died here at the beverly hilton on february 11th, the voice of a generation silenced forever. a tragic ending to a life filled with promise that was almost preordained.
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with a gospel legend for a mother, and a cousin named dionne warwick, houston was born to sing. >> when we first saw whitney, when you first heard whitney, you knew there was something special happening here. >> legendary music producer clive davis certainly knew. he discovered houston and changed her life forever. he packaged and polished the 19-year-old sensation into a pure pop princess, at least on the surface. >> alexis chu reported on whitney's death for "people" magazine. >> one source who worked with whitney told us she definitely was not a goody two-shoes in any sense of the word. >> houston's bad girl side may have ultimately drawn her to r&b bad boy bobby brown. >> she was a girl from the streets of newark and she fell in love with a bad boy with a
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good voice, so, you know, her fans, yes, very shocked. those who knew her best really weren't surprised. >> houston and brown traded rings in 1992, a personal high matched only by a professional one that very same year. "the bodyguard" grossed more than $400 million and launched the top-selling soundtrack of all time. but even as the crossover superstar commanded millions for movies like "the preacher's wife," she increasingly struggled with her fame. did she ever talk to you about the stress of fame? >> she said to me, you don't know what it is like being me. i am stressed out all the time. >> that stress was only compounded by houston's often rocky marriage. >> they were very happy at first but pretty soon the relationship turned pretty volatile, and when she was under pressure, she tended to turn to drugs and alcohol.
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>> when houston began a string of missed appearances and cancelations, many pointed their finger at bobby brown for his wife's mounting troubles with drugs. >> i hate to say that she had started before she had met bobby brown. >> we got to live with [ bleep ] -- >> houston's increasingly erratic behavior even played out before the cameras in the short-lived reality show "being bobby brown," but when brown spoke to cnn in 2005, he insisted he and his famous wife were finally sober. >> i am working on a year and a half of sobriety. and my wife, she is working on her year, so we're really doing good, and i am proud of her. >> yet her attempts at recovery only ended in relapse for houston and the years of drug abuse had taken their toll. >> i was shocked at her condition. her vocal condition. >> what happened to whitney houston's voice?
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>> i think that the psychological impact of being who she was drove her into lifestyle habits that ultimately were destructive. >> by may 2011 whitney houston was divorced. her attempt at a comeback a year earlier was in shambles. with all of these crushing personal setbacks, she entered into a voluntary outpatient program for drug and alcohol treatment. friends say she just needed a break. >> i know that she was pacing herself because she was preparing for the movie. i don't know exactly what she went through to do that. >> that movie was "sparkle," and by the time whitney houston began doing press for the film, she did seem like a different woman. "access hollywood's" sean robinson did the last one-on-one interview with her. >> when i looked whitney houston in her eyes, i thought that this woman is coming back.
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>> but looks can be deceiving, especially when you are talking about whitney houston. her final days when we return. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. i have to know the weather patterns. i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. so i can get three times the coverage. [ manager 2 ] it's like working in a giant sandbox. with all these huge toys. and with the fastest push-to-talk... i can keep track of them all. [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done" with access to the fastest push-to-talk
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♪ with a new movie and a new sparkle of her home, a seemingly healthy whitney houston started the new year poised to perhaps make that long awaited comeback. but behind the scenes some now all too familiar and alarming behavior. >> alexis chu, now with "in
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touch weekly" reported on whitney houston's death for "people" magazine. >> there are always temptations. and unfortunately she started partying again and spending time with perhaps the wrong people and just fell right back into that sad spiral. >> three days before the annual grammy awards show, whitney houston was staying here at the beverly hilton. it is here where over several days sources say the pop superstar was seen consuming considerable amounts of alcohol and acting erratically. garrett kennedy of "the l.a. times" was covering a pre-grammy press event when the singer raised eyebrows at the hotel pool. >> one of the conversations i had with a grammy staffer was that security were getting calls from guests that she was doing handstands by the pool. it was like, oh, that's pretty bizarre. >> and then there was this.
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kennedy says houston smelled of cigarettes and alcohol when she burst in on her mentor clive davis. >> come say hi to your godfather. >> okay. >> come say hi to your goddad. >> i am like, oh, my god, you are a mess right now and you are embarrassing yourself. i am embarrassed for you. >> but the pop star appeared anything but disheveled or disoriented later that night. >> whitney houston attended a pre-grammy party at this hollywood night club. and as she walked the red carpet, witnesses say she had it together and was on her best behavior. adam ambrose is a publicist for "true hollywood." >> she walked along here with -- holding hands, in fact, with bobbi kristina and they both looked radiant when they arrived. they were both looking fantastic. >> houston was even up for a little impromptu entertaining. she surprised everyone when she
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joined her friend, r&b nominee kelly price on stage. ♪ >> the place erupted. i mean, it was very sweet. it was actually really touching when she went up. ♪ >> fun times, but too much of a good time? not so says kelly price. while she says that houston had champagne at the party, she denies reports that things got out of hand with her friend. >> this was not a woman who was depressed, upset, high, drunk. she was clearly in her right mind. she was not acting erratic. >> but "access hollywood's" shaun robinson says the pictures taken that thursday night tell a whole different story. >> i said who is that? what the hell happened?
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what happened in three months that took her from this person who seemed to really have it all together to this person who looked very disheveled and just kind of not there? ♪ >> in a sad reality, houston hadn't been herself in years, at least not the one fans had come to love at the height of her superstardom. her struggles with addiction, the loss of her once incomparable voice, the pressures of fame had all but destroyed houston's once magnificent facade, and by saturday, february 11th, any hope of a comeback would be over. hours away from attending clive davis' annual pre-grammy celebration, whitney houston was in her fourth floor suite here at the beverly hilton when a music executive staying on the floor above hers was jolted awake by a loud thud. >> a member of her entourage went in and discovered her
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unconscious in the bathtub partially submerged. the member of the entourage called 911 immediately. >> within minutes paramedics arrived making desperate attempts to revive her. >> her brother gary was in the room and his wife pat, obviously praying for a miracle. >> houston's close friend kim berell received a troubled call and raced over to the hotel. >> you could feel that something was terribly wrong, and by then i saw the yellow police tape down the hall. so i rushed to the room, and i said what's going on here? and pat told me she's gone. >> whitney houston was dead on the eve of music's biggest night, one of its biggest icons was gone. she was only 48. >> bobbi kristina broke down in the hotel lobby and just was screaming over and over again what's wrong with her? what's wrong with her?
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so we can only imagine what was going through this girl's mind, but her mother was her world. >> i wanted everything to just stop. wait a minute. because what i felt was happening, i didn't want to be happening. >> but there was no stopping it. a victim of her own addiction, toxicology tests revealed houston had cocaine, xanax and marijuana in her body, as well as a muscle relaxant and the allergy medicine benadryl. the coroner determined the cause of death was accidental drowning with the effects of heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. a life built on triumph of ended in tragedy. but for those who knew her, the megastar known as the voice will always sing on. >> when someone like that dies,
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the music takes on a new meaning. the music takes on a meaning now that whitney is not here, and the song that makes me very emotional, it was that song "all at once," and the lyrics are so strong. ♪ all at once >> and then it hit me you're not coming back "all at once." ♪ i am realizing you're not coming back ♪ ♪ and it finally hit me all at once ♪ >> coming up, questions about whether some close to whitney helped her addiction. >> you've got enablers. that person is the cash cow. so what are they going to say? ♪
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a year has gone by since the death of megastar whitney houston. here at the beverly hilton hotel. her mother has a revealing new book that shares the story of whitney's life and death. the pain is still raw for family and loved ones, especially for the fan whitney called uncle sam. he's one half of a '60s superstars sam & dave. now the man who beat the odds and overcame addiction is haunted by his inability to save whitney houston.
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>> it was february 12, 2011, a year before whitney houston died. a pre-grammy party. >> whitney houston. >> whitney was back. back from years of erratic behavior and drug use. ♪ walk on by >> where's the voice? >> you're saying she couldn't sing? >> no. ♪ the moment i wake up >> rock 'n roll hall-of-famer sam moore was in the audience. he and his wife joyce knew the girl everyone called nippy growing up was in trouble. >> she came in and she looked over and she saw me and i said nippy! hey, baby. and she fell on her knees and i said, no, no, don't get on your knees. and she goes like this. and she's sweating. she's starting to sweat. and i say joy, she said hi.
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and i said hi. >> high on drugs. far from the girl he first met decades earlier. >> i thought she was the cutest little thing. >> whitney came to call him uncle sam, and as quickly as moore watched the girl he called nippy rise, he watched her fall. it was the early '90s. >> when i first realized that she was using, i saw her on tv. she always was perspiring, doing this to her face, wiping the sweat. >> at that moment, he knew she was an addict. he knew because sam moore was an addict himself. he was on his way to rock bottom when his wife convinced him to get help. 30 years later, performing at the apollo, he's reminded of nippy. the theatre was a site of a memorial after her death, a death sam knows all too well was tough to prevent. >> if they want it, they're going to get it.
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you've got enablers. you've even got parents. they know that their child is doing it. that person is the cash cow. so what are they going to say? >> sam's wife joyce believes whitney's own family helped fuel her habit. >> members in whitney's family, immediate and extended, that had their problems with drugs. >> the family declined to comment, and did not respond to our questions about these claims. whitney's mother cissy houston talks about her daurtd's daughter's drug use in her new book "remembering whitney." her brother michael talked about it with oprah winfrey in their first interview since whitney's death. >> we played together. we did everything together growing up and when you get into drugs, you do that together, too. it got out of hand. drugs is rough. >> something sam moore knows all
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too well. which is why he tried to intervene that fateful night two years ago. but her entourage pulled her away too quickly. then he says he talked to whitney's cousin dionne warwick. >> i said, dionne, she's struggling, man. this ain't it. this ain't cool. you know what she said to me? malicious gossip, sam, what are you doing? i'm just telling you, she's getting high. sam, stop. stop. you're starting rumors. there's nothing wrong with her. >> warwick's spokesperson says dionne didn't feel it was her place to discuss houston's personal matters. >> sam stepped away. moments later, whitney's daughter approached him. >> here comes bobbi kristina. uncle sam. i said hi, baby. uncle sam, i said yeah? help my mommy. and before i could say anything
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this guy, literally pulling her away from me. >> a moment that haunts moore to this day. >> she was one of the greatest voices. ♪ and i >> and you knew what she was doing. why didn't you help her save that voice? she could have had a legacy. but where is it? it died with these people. that's the legacy. ♪ you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actually use, you never miss the fun.
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